Seven engaging documentary films will be presented by students graduating this year.
One of the most innovative and progressive programs in the Arts Division, Soc Doc is designed for future documentarians committed to social change and to documenting communities, cultures, issues, and individuals.
“These documentaries are the culmination of an intense two years of immersion on the part of our dedicated students in the art of documentary media, scholarly research and analysis, nonfiction storytelling, and the politics of representation,” said associate professor of film and digital media John Jota Leaños, graduate director of the program.
"We are especially indebted to the affiliated faculty in other departments whose guidance and participation have helped to elevate the students’ work into realms that go beyond the story,” Leaños added.
“We offer a special thanks to Academy Award-winning documentary editor, Kate Amend, who flies in from Los Angeles every year for intensive consultations and critiques with the graduating students.”
Acting arts dean Martin Berger noted that the current Master of Arts (MA) degree in social documentation will soon be changing into a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree.
"Converting the Soc Doc degree into an MFA will acknowledge the artistic qualities of the students' work and provide them with a more marketable degree,” said Berger. “While the MA is typically seen as a mere steppingstone to a Ph.D, the MFA is a terminal degree for many creative fields in the arts."
The lineup for the film screenings at the Del Mar:
Michelle Aguilar--El Cacao
In the lush rainforest of Bocas del Toro, Panama, an indigenous cacao farmer, his wife, and grandchildren confront environmental and economic complexities as they grow, harvest, and sell cacao beans for a global chocolate market. Does Fair Trade and organic certification really work? Documenting the exceptional wisdom, unconditional devotion, and proven ancient farming techniques of one hard-working Ngäbe farmer, Samuel Murillo, El Cacao complicates the question by examining the fairness of his trade.
Egill Bjarnason--Once the Ice Melts: Ittoqqortoomitt, One Summer
Once the Ice Melts explores the status of isolation and the future of traditions in what is arguably earth’s remotest town. It introduces a group of young adults in Ittoqqortoomitt, one of the last remaining hunting communities in Greenland, and observes them over the course of one summer. With harpoon skills an increasingly useless trade, they struggle to find their place in a High Arctic town of 438 people and 250 dogs--reduced to 437 residents by the time the documentary comes to an end.
Taryn Lee Crenshaw--The “QUARE” In There
Shot in Oakland, California, The “QUARE” In There explores individuals whose lives demonstrate the value of complexity and self-definition. Roman--transman and LGBTQ advocate--defies the gender binary, while Brooklyn pushes its boundaries as a masculine-of-center woman. DJ Lady Ryan, Nenna, Sienna, and Ursula Rucker all explore the body, the voice, and movement through space as sources of liberation. With words, music, and everpresent style, TQIT pays homage to Black queer subjectivity.
Juan C. Dávila Santiago--The Stand-by Generation (La generación del estanbai)
Focused on the island of Puerto Rico, La generación del estanbai follows the lives of young people caught in the ‘precariat’ world of part-time and temporary under-employment devoid of security. A new generation of university graduates-- Efraín, Keishla, Nelson, Jesús-- choose to stay in Puerto Rico despite its ongoing financial crisis, but they are kept very busy struggling to survive by any means necessary as their aspirations are placed on standby.
Cecily Engelhart--Siouxtable Food
Examining the relationships between food, culture, and history, Siouxtable Food journeys through time and space and the Northern Plains to deliver a contemporary look at the Sioux relationship to food. Unabashedly cheeky but still full of heart, this irreverent essay by a food scholar and tribal member tackles complicated issues through laughter and honesty. With painful memories and joyous celebration, it explores how the notion of “you are what you eat” can change even after generations of colonization.
Benjamin Garcia Candelaria--Out of Sight, Out of Mind
California inmate Anthony Robinson Jr. risks it all to help document the expensive and traumatic practice of shipping state prisoners to out-of-state private prisons. Using a contraband cell phone, Anthony offers first-person insights into his experience from inside the walls of a private prison located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. With the help of an activist newspaper, old friend, and private-prison experts, Anthony eloquently dissects a system that has made him a commodity to be bought and sold.
Rana Jarbou--Hajwalah
Hajwalah explores the city of Riyadh through the eyes of protagonist Rakan and his passion for the “motorsport” of joyriding. When he has to quit, Rakan inhabits the “hajwalah” world virtually through gaming. In parallel, Hajwalah claims its own sense of place in the rapidly growing desert metropolis through the lens of the filmmaker herself, gazing through the window of a car traversing the city. Throughout, the underlying regulation of social interactions and relations is reflected through the filmmaking process.
The film screenings begin at 6 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.
For more information, contact socdoc@ucsc.edu or call (831) 459-3445.
